Days pass, and the girl that Iroh had brought back to the palace was revocering. For a while the doctors said it was touch and go, her heartbeat so faint that it could barely be heard by ear, her breathing so slow but laboured, she could stop at any moment. The doctors bandaged her up, and as soon as she was stable, left her to recover. She had not made one sound, not a flutter of an eyelid, or any other signs of life other than the slow rise and fall of her chest. Zuko had gone to check up on Iroh, when he realized he wasn't in his room. A guard informed him that he was in the recovery room with the girl he had rescued. "Rescued", if you could call it that. Her family was dead, she was forever scarred, and she seemed to have no will to ever wake up ever again.
Zuko opened the grand door to the room, and stopped dead in his tracks, as he saw the girl sitting up, eyes open, talking to Iroh. The sheets that were once on the bed were on the floor- drenched in water- with the bowl that the water must have come from was sitting on the beside table, untouched. Iroh himself, was drenched in water as well, the chair he'd been sitting on overturned and him a few paces away from the bed.
"Zuko!" Iroh said, almost excited.
"What's going on here?"
"I found out why it was her family that was singled out!" Iroh wandered over to him, seemingly oblivious to the girl who was cringing in pain after being on such alert. Iroh seemed delighted that he found the answer to this mystery. He'd been pondering over it for days. Iroh pulled Zuko in the room and closed the door gently, and then turned around with a grin. "Our little rescue over here," He gestured to the girl in the bed who was now covering her chest with her arms, seemingly glaring at the two of them. "Is a waterbender!"
Zuko blinked. A what? A water bender? Living in the fire nation? Zuko's eyes remained fixed on the girl, who was now cleaned of blood and dirt and soot, so that all of her features were visible. Her long, black hair, singed to different lengths, her small round face, with skin as pale as the moon, and sharp ice blue eyes, which were currently glaring daggers at him. He tried to think back- she was definitely in the remnants of fire nation clothes, but then again the avatar and his group dressed in fire nation clothes as well. Zuko's mind drifted. What if she was a spy? An assassin? Sent from the Water Tribes to get revenge for this silly war. They probably held the fire nation responsible. As his thoughts raced, he didn't even notice the girl bending the water that once soaked the sheets on the floor around her right hand, and then commencing a healing process on her burns. Iroh stopped, watching her in awe as she moved her hand up her burnt left arm, healing the skin and returning it to a somewhat normal state. Although not completely healed, the skin fused back together and the redness dissapated, leaving only small ripples in the skin where the burns once were.
"That's amazing!" Iroh exclaimed, going over to her side. Zuko was knocked out of his train of thought- now on guard due to such- and watched the scene before him. When she was done, she replaced the water into the bowl on the beside table, and Iroh applauded her.
"Marvelous! You are quite the skilled bender." He said. "What is your name?" Her eyes fleeted up to meet his, then over to lock with Zuko's, then she turned her face away from them and over towards the window, without a sound. Iroh frowned slightly, and Zuko's infamous temper flared a bit.
"He just saved your life- and you won't even talk to him?" Iroh raised a hand to stop Zuko's outburst, shaking his head slightly.
"Now now, Zuko. Maybe its just because we are being rude." Iroh picked up the sheets off the floor and shook them out a bit, and then placed them back over her bare legs. "My name is Iroh. Forgive this young gentleman over here, he is my headstrong nephew, and current Fire Lord, Zuko." He sat slowly on the bed beside her. "Won't you tell us your name?" She stared stubbornly out the window for a few moments, then her shoulders relaxed just a tiny bit.
"Quinna." She said in a small, barely audible voice.
"Kee-nah?" He repeated, sounding it out. "Pretty name, Quinna." She didn't reply. Somehow, the mood in the room was darkening.
I'm sure she must realize the inevitable. Zuko thought, his previous temper spurt dying within him.
"Do you remember what happened, Quinna?" Iroh asked gently. She didn't reply. She just sat, motionless, her face turned towards the window. Minutes pass, what seemed longer to Zuko, as the room remained still, until her weight shifted.
"My family?" She asked, in a voice that was still quiet, but somehow steeled. Iroh didn't respond. Zuko lowered his eyes to the floor.
"I see." She said. After a few more moments passed, she spoke once more. "My father is- was... a fire bender. My mother, a water bender. My two younger brothers were both learning how to fire bend. They sucked." Zuko could see the skin on her face move; she must be smiling. "I had my mother's talents. Although we hid our water bending. Someone must have seen us. We were so careful… and then Pach… he…" Her words strained with the memory. Her body tightened for a moment, then released into futility. "I couldn't protect… I couldn't…. protect.. anyone." She choked on her words as she began breathing rapidly, all of a sudden a thin layer of sweat was visible on her skin, and she fell back onto the bed, laying on her side as she proceed to hyperventalate. Iroh jumped up.
"Zuko call the doctors right away!"
Quinna's vision went from clear to blurry as she felt herself being rolled over. As she blinked everything seemed surreal, like it was a bad dream. Like it couldn't really be happening. She'd just gone to pick some herbs. Just yesterday. Her mom said that they needed Bumbleroot. She'd just gone to pick herbs….
Quinna's world faded to black.
